Living With a Torpedo

Most Torpedo owners will admit that the decision rarely begins with specifications. It begins with attraction. Proportion. Confidence. A modern boat designed to be a timeless classic that feels assured rather than fashionable.

What surprises them later is how quickly it stops being an admired object and becomes something woven into normal life. The boat gets used often because it removes the small points of resistance that quietly reduce use in most boats.

This piece draws on lived owner experience, including Jacques and Linda Sicotte and Alfred and Rejane Coyle, and is reinforced by independent sea trials and in depth articles written by journalists who have spent real time with the boat across continents and years.

Expectation versus reality

Before ownership, like with most boats people buy, many buyers carry the same quiet doubt.

Will we actually use it?

Or will it become the kind of boat you save for perfect days?

The Torpedo's appearance can reinforce that hesitation. Open cockpit. Strong, timeless lines. Nothing about it signals convenience or compromise.

Jacques Sicotte admits this was part of his own thinking at first. What surprised him most was how quickly that mindset disappeared once the boat was theirs.

"We stopped planning boating," he explains. "If we had time, we went. Sometimes for an hour. Sometimes for longer. On one occasion we decided almost on the spot to go to Corsica. That kind of spontaneity was not something we expected."

That lived experience reflects the original design intent. Radenko Milakovic once described wanting a 1957 Corvette that can transform into an Airstream camper when needed. The Financial Times later picked up the line, but the idea was never poetic. It was practical. A boat that feels simple and open by default, yet becomes capable and protective when conditions or life demand it.

That combination quietly changes behaviour. Boating stops being an occasion and becomes something you do when you have time.

The first weeks: confidence is engineered

Owners often expect a learning curve with classic looking boats, especially if they plan to run the boat themselves. The early weeks matter. If a boat feels precious or demanding, use drops quickly.

What appears again and again in independent tests is a different pattern. Motor Boat and Yachting described the Torpedo as calm and predictable, noting how progressively power builds and how little correction is needed once underway. A German sea trial went further, calling the handling unkapriziös, a rare compliment in this context.

Alfred Coyle recognises this contrast from experience. Having lived with traditionally demanding wooden boats before commissioning Amazon Queen, he was clear that although the Torpedo is classic in design, it is a state of the art boat engineered to behave in a thoroughly empowering, comfortable and confidence building way.

"What struck me wasn't speed," the former US Air Force F 15 fighter jet pilot says. "It was how she behaves. In turns she banks like a jet, very naturally, very progressively. You note her agility, you feel her power, all without any nervousness or stress."

That absence of stress matters early. It allows habits to form around use rather than caution.

Docking, handling, spontaneity

Spontaneity is not a personality trait. It is a consequence of trust.

A boat that is stressful to dock will be used less. A boat that turns rough water into punishment will be used less. A boat that makes every outing feel like a production will be used less.

Across French, British, German, Italian and American sea trials, journalists repeatedly arrive at the same conclusion. The Torpedo behaves consistently. At speed it settles rather than surprises. In confined waters it responds precisely and calmly. One test noted that even at pace, conversation remained normal, a small detail that says a great deal about build quality, comfort and composure.

Owners experience this directly. As Neptune Yachting observed during Mediterranean use, decisions become lighter. Let's go now. Let's still go tomorrow. We'll go even if conditions are not perfect. That confidence applies as much to setting off on longer crossings as it does to shorter, spontaneous runs. Confidence shortens the distance between intention and action, regardless of distance.

Frequency of use: short and long alike

When owners say they use their boat a lot, it can mean many things. What matters is whether the boat gets used naturally, across different distances and durations, rather than being reserved for specific types of outings. Short afternoons. Quick evening runs. Unplanned mornings. But also longer crossings when the opportunity presents itself.

Jacques Sicotte describes this shift clearly. Once Temptation became part of their life, use stopped needing justification. The same boat that handles everyday family routines comfortably also allows them, without hesitation, to set off further afield, whether that means hopping over to Corsica or continuing on beyond. It fits naturally into their rhythm with family and friends, which is precisely why it is used so often.

Independent profiles echo this quietly. In NAVIS, repeated departures, short runs, and longer passages around Saint Tropez and the wider Mediterranean are described as routine. The Torpedo appears less as an event and more as a companion to life on the water, whatever the distance involved.

What actually changed our boating habits

Two assumptions often sit behind the worry of under use.

It is an open boat, so it is fair weather.

It is a one cabin boat, so it is limited.

Both are understandable. Both are incomplete.

The versatility owners describe is not accidental. It is the result of deliberate architectural choices, underpinned by engineering designed to make the boat genuinely practical, whether the day calls for a short local run or a longer journey across open water.

Beneath its timeless appearance, the Torpedo is built around modern systems designed to prioritise control, predictability and comfort. Technology is present, but discreet. Systems are integrated and largely invisible. They exist not to impress, but to make use easy and inviting, whatever the occasion.

What looks like an open cockpit becomes, when required, a fully protected second cabin, heated or cooled. With the table fully raised, the space functions as a proper dining room or galley. With the table half raised, it becomes a second sunbed or sleeping arrangement. The transformation is deliberate, quick, without fuss and purposeful, allowing the cockpit to change function without changing the character of the boat.

This is Scandinavian logic. Open by default. Protected when necessary. Achieved without permanent hard structures that compromise proportion, visibility or feel.

Alfred Coyle's observation that the Torpedo is small enough for a lake and big enough for the sea is often repeated, but the real meaning sits underneath. The point is not scale, but continuity. The Torpedo does not lock ownership to one geography, one season, or one way of using it. If you want it to, the Torpedo is easily transportable and can move with you across to where you live and spend time.

And when a boat can follow your life across places and across the year, use becomes limited only by one thing: the owner's time.

Ownership, training and confidence

Every Torpedo owner begins with an extended, hands on training period, typically lasting a full week. This is offered as part of the ownership experience, free of charge. The purpose is simple: to build confidence through knowledge and real experience.

The Torpedo is a powerful and highly capable boat. Rather than leaving owners to discover that gradually, J Craft chooses to show it properly from the beginning. Time is spent on the water, in real conditions, learning how the boat behaves, how it responds, and how much margin it has built into it.

By the end of that process, owners understand not only how the boat works, but how capable it is, and that confidence carries directly into use.

That early investment shortens the learning curve dramatically. Owners stop second guessing themselves. Decisions become easier. Use becomes more relaxed.

In Europe, this relationship is direct and personal. In the United States, the same philosophy is carried through Hinckley, chosen specifically because they understand owner operated boats and long term stewardship. The result is continuity. Ownership that feels supported rather than fragmented, wherever the boat happens to be.

Reflection: what makes the Torpedo different to own

Independent journalists tend to arrive at the same conclusion from different directions. Some focus on handling. Others on construction. Others on proportion and confidence. Yet the outcome they describe is consistent. The Torpedo is confidence building rather than demanding.

Owners express this more simply. They expected to admire the boat. They did not expect it to fit so easily into everyday life.

That is why many owners find themselves using their Torpedo as much as they have the time to, across places, across seasons and across years.